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News June 2016

Record participation numbers for home country athletics federations

UK Athletics and the Home Country Athletics Federations have announced record athletics participation figures as they launch a 10 year ambition to make athletics the number one individual sport in the country.

The number of people committing to athletics, as members of clubs, has increased dramatically in recent years with a 49% UK total growth in membership of athletics clubs between 2008 and 2015.

At a home country level this is illustrated by; a staggering rise of 100% in Wales, with the number of members of athletics clubs rising from 5000 to 10,000 between 2008-2015; a rise of 96% in Northern Ireland, with the number of members of athletics clubs rising from 2800 to 5500 between 2008-2015; a rise of 45% in England where the number of members of athletics clubs rose from 100,000 to 145,000 between 2008-2015 and a rise of 45% in Scotland, where the number of members of athletics clubs rose from 7950 to 11,520 between 2008-2015.

With the IAAF World Championships and World Para-Athletics Championships coming to the UK in 2017, giving athletics the same profile it enjoyed during London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, Home Country athletics federations believe the interest in athletics will continue to rise.

CEO of UK Athletics Niels de Vos commented:“I’m delighted to see these record growth figures delivered by the Home Countries over the last eight years.

“It shows that athletics, the centrepiece of London 2012, led to a clear participation upsurge. With London 2017, Birmingham 2018 World Indoors and Glasgow 2019 European Indoors, the opportunity is there for UK Athletics and the Home Country Athletics Federations to increase these participation figures still higher.

“It is this shared ambition which is outlined in our joint work: ‘An Athletic Nation strategy.”